Pinch grip type bottle-shaped container

ABSTRACT

A pinch grip type bottle-shaped container ( 10 ) has opposed finger-receiving recesses ( 11 ) at sidewall regions of a container main body part, respectively, to thereby form a grip part (G) of the container ( 10 ), by the entire region including the recesses and a back surface region of the body part between the recesses. The container according to the invention is provided, at bottom surfaces of the recesses that can be touched and held ( 11 ), with multiple projections ( 14 ) projecting inwardly or outwardly of the container, thereby improving mold-releasability after the molding process.

BACKGROUND ART

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a bottle-shaped container, i.e., aso-called pinch grip type bottle-shaped container wherein the body partof the container main body is dividedly formed with finger-receivingrecesses that can be used as a grip part for gripping the container.

2. Related Art

Synthetic resin containers as represented by PET bottles are light inweight, easy to handle, and have transparency to exhibit a refinedappearances comparable to glass containers, besides that they can bemanufactured at low cost. Thus, such containers are widely used ascontainers for filling therein foods, beverages, cosmetics, medicines orthe like.

There is a recent tendency to demand for reduction of the resin amountto be used per one container, from the standpoint of effectiveutilization of resources and reduction in amount of wastes. To cope withsuch a demand, there are used pinch grip type bottle-shaped containerswherein the body part of the container itself is gripped for pouring thecontents. Particularly, pinch grip type bottle-shaped containers havebeen widely used in case of large-sized containers with a filling volumeof 2.7 liters or more for containing therein Japanese “sake”, soy sauce,edible oil, Japanese “shochu” (distilled spirit), and whisky.

It is conventional practice to mold a bottle-shaped container made ofsynthetic resin, by blow molding process, and particularly bybiaxial-stretching blow molding process. However, in the case of a pinchgrip type bottle-shaped container, the container is provided, at itssidewall regions of the container main body part, with opposed recessesthat can be touched and held by fingers or fingertips for enabling usersto readily grip the body part of the container. As such, there areinstances wherein the container after the molding process cannot bereadily released from the mold such recesses. Therefore, it would bedesirable to further improve the pinch grip type bottle-shapedcontainers such that they can be manufactured with higher productivity.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a pinch griptype bottle-shaped container capable of being readily released from themold after the molding process, to thereby eliminate the above-mentionedproblem.

To this end, the present invention provides a pinch grip typebottle-shaped container having opposed finger-receiving recesses, whichare formed at sidewall regions of a container main body part,respectively, to thereby form a grip part of the container by the entireregion including the recesses and a back surface region of the body partbetween the recesses, wherein the container is provided, at bottomsurfaces of the finger-receiving recesses, with multiple projectionsprojecting inwardly or outwardly of the container, respectively.

In the bottle-shaped container according to the present invention, thebottom surfaces of the finger-receiving recesses are provided with themultiple projections, respectively, thereby facilitating formation of aspace between the applied resin and the mold so that the container canbe readily released from the mold after the molding process, to improvethe work efficiency upon manufacturing and thereby realize a higherproductivity. Additionally, the ribs of the container after the moldingprocess function as slip stoppers, thereby advantageously realizing acontainer that can be gripped readily and stably. Further, even when thecontainer is thin-walled by reducing the used amount of resin so as toreduce the weight of the container, it is possible to ensure sufficientstrength of the container and, in particular, sufficient rigidity at thesub-recesses recesses to be touched and held by fingers, therebyallowing the initial shape of the container to be stably retained.

In the bottle-shaped container according to the present invention, it ispreferred that the projections comprise ribs that are arranged inparallel alignment with each other. In this case, it is possible tofurther improve the mold-releasability of the container after themolding process, thereby enabling a further improved productivity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described in further detail hereinafter,with reference to a preferred embodiment shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 through FIG. 3 are front view, side view and rear view,respectively, of a bottle-shaped container according to one embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 4( a) and FIG. 4( b) are plan view and bottom view of the containerof FIGS. 1 through 3, respectively, and FIGS. 4( c) through (g) arecross-sectional views taken along line c—c through line g—g of FIG. 2,respectively.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In FIGS. 1 through 3, reference numeral 10 designates a pinch grip typebottle-shaped container of a kind widely used as one having a fillingvolume of 2.7 liters. Reference numerals 11 designate recesses formed insidewall regions of the container main body part in mutually opposedorientations, respectively, and reference numeral 12 designates apressure-reduction compensating panel provided in the back surfaceregion between the recesses 11 for preventing shape deformation of thecontainer as a result of pressure drop within the container. There isformed a grip part G for gripping the container, by the entire regionfrom one recess 11 to the other recess 11, including these recessesthemselves and the pressure-reduction compensating panel 2.

Each of the regions near the body part of the bottle-shaped container 10is reinforced by three reinforcing ribs 13 which extend in parallel witheach other along a circumferential direction of the body part. Thegrouped three reinforcing ribs 13 divide the associated recess 11 intofour sub-recesses 11 a. These sub-recesses 11 a are used as portions forengagement by user's fingers so as to grip the body part. Three of theassociated four sub-recesses 11 a to be engaged and held by fingers areprovided, at the bottom surfaces thereof, with multiple projections 14,respectively, extending in parallel with each other along thecircumferential direction of the body part. These projections, in turn,are each constituted as a rib group comprising a plurality of ribs 14 a.

Reference numeral 15 designates a lateral rib having a groove M locatedat a boundary between an upper end of the pressure-reductioncompensating panel 12 and the container main body part so as to projectinwardly of the container, reference numerals 16 designate stepsprovided along the edges of the recesses 11 forming the grip part G,respectively, and reference numerals 17 designate pressure-reductioncompensating panels, respectively, provided at the shoulder part of thecontainer main body.

The transition of cross-sectional shape of the bottle-shaped containeraccording to the above-mentioned embodiment is shown in FIGS. 4( a)through (g).

The present inventors have compared the container according to thepresent invention having the multiple ribs 14 a provided at the bottomsurfaces of the recesses to be held by fingers, respectively, with acontainer according to a comparative example in terms ofmold-releasability after the blow molding process. As a result, it hasbeen confirmed that the container according to the present invention canbe readily released from the mold without any situation where thereleasing is obstructed, whereas the releasing of the containeraccording to the comparative example from the mold has been occasionallyobstructed. It is considered that this is due to the fact that a spacecan be readily formed between the applied resin and the mold, by virtueof the multiple ribs 14 a at the bottom surfaces of the recesses to beheld by fingers, respectively.

In the bottle-shaped container 10 according to the above-mentionedembodiment, each rib group 14 is provided at the bottom surface of theassociated one of the sub-recesses 11 a obtained by dividing therecesses 11 for engagement by fingers, by means of the reinforcing ribs13. Thus, the container 10 can be readily released from the mold afterthe blow molding process, thereby improving the working efficiency uponmanufacture to realize higher productivity. Additionally, the rib groups14 of the bottle-shaped container 10 after the molding process functionas slip stoppers, thereby advantageously realizing a container that canbe readily gripped. Furthermore, even when the container is thin-walledby reducing the used amount of resin so as to reduce the weight of thecontainer, it is possible to ensure a sufficient strength of thecontainer and, in particular, sufficient rigidity at the sub-recesses 11a that can be touched and held by fingers, thereby allowing the initialshape of the container to be stably retained.

In the bottle-shaped container 10 according to the above-mentionedembodiment, the rib groups 14 are preferably oriented in parallelalignment with each other, as shown in FIG. 2. In this instance, thecontainer 10 can be more readily released from the mold after the blowmolding process, thereby enabling a further improved productivity. Itshould be noted that the rib groups 14 are not limited to those whichextend in parallel with each other along the circumferential directionof the body part, insofar as they are oriented in parallel alignmentwith each other, and the rib groups 14 may include those which extend ina direction inclined to, or in a longitudinal direction perpendicularto, the circumferential direction of the body part.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned preferredembodiment, and can be of course embodied in many variants. For example,the projections 14 comprising the rib groups, respectively, may beprovided not only at the three sub-recesses 11 a to be engaged byforefinger (thumb), middle finger and third finger which are capable ofapplying strong forces, but at all of the sub-recesses 11 a. Similarly,the projection 14 may be provided over the entirety of the bottomsurface of the associated recess 11, by directly using the recess 11 asa recess to be held by fingers, without dividing the recess 11 intosub-recesses 11 a by the reinforcing ribs 13. Furthermore, eachprojection 14 may be constituted of multiple grooves (groove group)projected inwardly of the container, instead of the multiple ribsprojected outwardly of the container.

Although the container according to the present invention can be moldedby biaxial-stretching blow molding a thermoplastic resin, such aspolyethylene terephthalate, the molding process is not particularlylimited thereto. Also, the filling volume of the bottle-shaped containeris not limited to 2.7 liters, and it is possible to variously adopt abottle having a filling volume exceeding 2.7 liters or smaller fillingvolumes such as 1.8 liters, 1 liter, 500 milliliters or 350 milliliters.

1. A pinch grip type bottle-shaped container, comprising: mutuallyopposed recesses formed in sidewall regions of the container, and apressure-reduction compensating panel provided in a back surface regionof the container between the recesses, wherein each of the recesses isreinforced by a plurality of reinforcing ribs which extend in parallelwith each other along a circumferential direction of the main body partof the container thereby dividing the recesses into a plurality ofsub-recesses that provide engaging portions for a user's fingers to gripthe main body part, and each of the plurality of sub-recesses areprovided at bottom surfaces thereof with multiple projections extendingin parallel with each other along the circumferential direction of themain body part, the projections extending in parallel with each otheralong the circumferential direction of the main body part, the multipleprojections in each sub-recess comprising a rib group, the presence ofthese rib groups facilitating releasability of a manufactured containerfrom a mold in which the container is manufactured.